Finished – Black Stretch Capris!

I finished off the black stretch capris that I made on my perfect rainy day inside sewing. They just needed hemming and a button – the very things that I find most difficult to do. That problem is all in the head of course!

They’re a bit so-so, and I blame the fabric. I think I mentioned that I had already tried some fitted trousers in this fabric before that were unsuccessful. These are much improved but still have their faults, most of them I can live with for a casual pant.

The fabric is from that era of hi-tech fabrics, and is a polyester/viscose/polyamide/elastane twill (I think that’s right – I’m going back a few years in my memory with that detail so don’t trust me on that 100%). My first attempt was looser, and turned out rather balloony/puffy if you know what I mean. I totally unpicked them because I decided this fabric needs to be tight to be successful in a trouser – something I was trying to avoid at my age! The fabric has about 10% stretch and the recovery isn’t great, as you can see by the knees and seat after a day’s work:

Being a close fitting trouser the knees are wrinkly in that jeans-sort-of-way anyway, and to be honest it is not that bad in real life. This fabric has a nylon sheen that loves to show off it’s wrinkles to the camera! Oh well, it is certainly of more use made up as a pair of trousers, than stuck on a roll under the bed collecting dust!

I like wearing them with my little pink jacket that I wear a lot at this time of year, and they will look cool with my current project-that-I-can’t-wait-to-finish in vintage teal mohair:

Let’s get down to the details – there is a side invisible zip, and the waist is bound with a button and loop:

And the hems are stitched, with little side seam splits:

What else? Mmm, I overlocked the seams:

As you can see, there are not many details…

In fact simple black stretch capris are pretty boring, but I’ve worn these so much already that I don’t know how I lived without them! I think in a better fabric these will be great for summer in navy, and red, and stone, and maybe a fun colour too – orange? – suggestions welcome!

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30 thoughts on “Finished – Black Stretch Capris!”

Wow, Such beautiful work for fabric you didn't even like. They look fine otherwise, and if they're comfy, even better. Wear on!I don't care for orange myself, but love my turquoise pants. Or how about lime? Let us know. And thank you once again.

Black capri's are always useful, even if they aren't as exciting to sew as a dress or a jacket. In fact, I have a pattern and the cloth to make some myself, but I just keep putting it off. I don't look forward to the muslin and all the adjustments.I hope I have the right fabric. You are right, subtle differences in stretch fabrics make a huge difference and it is hard to muslin for that.

Nice work, Sherry! I love the little side seam splits, and agree – finding the 'right' fabric for pants is probably the toughest fabric challenge I've had to deal with yet. I'm loving the colour of that mohair – and am looking forward to seeing what it turns into 🙂

Love your pants, fabric is so hard to come by in NZ, I wish Global Fabrics was closer! the waistband is so neat, a problem I can't master without it looking homemade, maybe a tutorial? Such a wonderful site, thanks for sharing!

These are lovely pants and I particularly like the hem detail. Mine have taken ages to finish simply because they're not a glamorous or exciting garment, but I suspect that like you I'll find them an invaluable addition to the wardrobe.

These capris look great, very Roman Holiday 🙂 and of course the fit and your finishing details are as superb and as inspiring as always. Thanks for showing the close ups of those ankle slits, this is a really cute detail.

I remember this kind of fabric well, in trousers. It was genius for making one's butt look good. I bet you'll get a lot of wear out of these simply for comfort and that they just go with everything! I love the little narrow waistband detail–do you curve that or is it straight?